Moquehue is a town in the

Aluminé department Aluminé is a department located in the west of Neuquén Province, Argentina. Geography The departament limits with Chile at east and northeast, Loncopué Department at northwest, Zapala Department at southwest and Huiliches Department Huilic ...

, in the province of

Neuquén Neuquén (; arn, Nehuenken) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers w ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is located on the shores of Lake Moquehue, on Provincial Route 11, 23 km southwest of

Villa Pehuenia Villa Pehuenia is a village and municipality in Neuquén Province in southwestern Argentina. The town is located on the northern shore of Aluminé Lake and its economy is primarily based on tourism. The village is in the Andes and is located about ...

and 80 km northwest of Aluminé. Cauquen en Lago Moquehue

The meaning of the name ''Moquehue'', is shady as there are several unofficial versions about its meaning. Some of them are: “place where there is maqui (''

Aristotelia chilensis ''Aristotelia chilensis'', known as maqui or Chilean wineberry, is a tree species in the Elaeocarpaceae family native to South America in the Valdivian temperate rainforests of Chile and adjacent regions of southern Argentina. Limited numbers of ...

'')”, “place where there is abundance of food”, “place of love” and “place of premonitions or dreams”. The Maqui is a tree that bears a fruit that is highly prized by indigenous cultures, but it is not often seen in the Villa Pehuenia area. For this reason, it is not known with certainty if the meaning of ''Moquehue'' that refers to this species is correct. It is believed that the region that

and Moquehue occupy today has been populated for 10 thousand years. At that time, the valley was home to numerous hunting and gathering peoples who gave rise to the

Pehuenche Pehuenche (or ''Pewenche'', people of the "pehuen" or "pewen" in Mapudungun) are an indigenous people of South America. They live in the Andes, primarily in present-day south central Chile and adjacent Argentina. Their name derives from their de ...

culture. Until 1881, the entire territory of

and Moquehue was under the command of chief Renque Curá, brother of the legendary chief

Calfucurá Calfucurá (from Mapudungun Kallfükura, 'blue stone'; from kallfü, 'blue', and kura, 'stone') also known as Juan Calfucurá or Cufulcurá (b. late 1770s; d. 1873), was a leading Mapuche lonco and military figure in Patagonia in the 19th century. ...

. Trade between

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

s and

argentines Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

spread for several years in a positive way. Further back in time, Alejandro Arce, rancher from

Necochea Necochea is a port and beach city in the southwest of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The city is located on the Atlantic coast, along the mouth of the Quequén Grande River, from Buenos Aires and southwest of Mar del Plata. The city proper ha ...

and one of the first settlers of Pehuenia, appeared. He was one of the pioneers in using the nearby mountain passes to sell his cattle in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

.{{Cite web , last=Andina , first=Patagonia , date=2020-05-19 , title=▷ Historia de Villa Pehuenia, una joven aldea patagónica , url=https://www.patagoniaandina.com/neuquen/historia-villa-pehuenia/ , access-date=2023-09-09 , website=Patagonia Andina , language=es-AR

References

Populated places in Neuquén Province